RIT 2009 Climate Study
The 2009 climate study was administered as a follow-up survey to the 2003 climate
survey conducted at RIT during the winter and spring quarters. The baseline data from
the 2003 survey indicated that all populations across the university expressed strong
support for diversity at RIT. While the 2003 survey was more comprehensive than the
current survey, there are common indicators in both surveys that allow us to examine
how faculty and staff see our campus climate now, relative to responses from 2003.
Summary
The report summarizes findings from the 2009 administration of the RIT Faculty and
Staff Climate survey. The survey was administered to assess the current perceptions of
staff and faculty of the climate on RIT’s campus, particularly as it relates to diversity and
inclusion. The report documents findings from the survey and the results are summarized
by theme. There were 834 respondents to the survey, representing approximately 27% of
the 3,106 faculty and staff of RIT, additional demographics is also reported in table 1.
1. Perceptions about RIT’s Policies and Practices regarding Diversity and Diversity
with Sub-Populations
The findings indicate there is majority support across all groups for RIT’s policies and
practices regarding diversity and inclusion. Nearly 90% of respondents agree RIT is an
institution which actively promotes diversity. Additionally, most (72.3%) of the
respondents agree RIT has a strong commitment to improving campus life for all
employees. The percentage of those agreeing that RIT has a strong commitment to
improving campus life for members of certain sub-populations ranges from 68.5% to
78.7%. However less than 50% agree that RIT has a strong commitment to improving
campus life for members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (GLBT)
employee population. It is also important to note that only 44% of the respondents agree
that RIT treats all employees fairly regardless of whether they are faculty or staff.
These findings from the current survey are similar to the sentiment and perceptions found
in the previous survey. There was widespread support from all populations across the
campus that diversity at RIT is important and should be actively promoted. Of equal
importance though, in the 2003 findings there was perceived concern that RIT was not as
welcoming and supportive an environment for constituents from the gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgendered communities. The findings from the 2009 survey also indicate
that more could be done to improve the campus environment for the GLBT community.
2. Perceptions about the overall climate at RIT
Compared to our 2003 baseline survey, a greater proportion of respondents in the 2009
survey feel comfortable working at RIT. Feeling a sense of pride about RIT is the
sentiment of more than 85% of the respondents. However 11% of the respondents do not
believe that they are treated fairly in their annual performance evaluation process.
Comparatively the proportion of respondents who did not believe they were treated fairly
in their annual performance evaluation process was higher in the 2003 survey findings.
3. Perceptions about the work climate at RIT
RIT is described as a collegial and friendly environment by the majority of the
respondents. The findings reveal that about 60% of the respondents believe that the work
climate is equally supportive of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people; 75% of
the respondents would describe the RIT work climate as being equally supportive of men
and women; approximately 70% believe that RIT is supportive of a balance between
work and personal life, and, over 80% describe the work environment as supportive of
people of different races and ethnicities. More than 90% of the respondents would
describe the RIT work climate as supportive of deaf and hard of hearing people. These
questions related to the work climate do not have comparative baseline responses from
the 2003 survey because these questions were not posed in that survey.
4. Personal experiences with certain behaviors and attitudes at RIT
The majority of the survey respondents have never heard or seen negative comments
about any diverse population of people at RIT. However, within the past one to five
years, thirty to forty percent of the respondents have seen or heard negative comments
about gender, deaf or hard of hearing people, and people of different racial/ethnic
backgrounds. In the 2003 survey the proportion of respondents was around 40% that had
heard or seen negative comments about another sub-population of RIT constituents.
RIT Climate Study 2009 Descriptive Statistics table1.
Race/Ethnicity
N
%
Caucasian/White (Not Hispanic or Latino)
African-­‐American/Black (Not Hispanic or Latino)
Hispanic/Latino(a) Native American or Alaskan Native Asian/Pacific Islander Two or More Races *Other/Unknown 685
82.1
% of the campus population (as of 10/01/08) 83.6
54 6.5 8.6 22 9 2.6 1.1 3.3 .7 14 11 39 1.7 1.3 4.7 3.7 UNK .3 Gender Male Female Did Not Answer 305 515 14 36.6 61.8 1.7 48.8 51.1 -­‐ Hearing Ability Deaf Hard of Hearing Hearing Sexual Orientation
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered RIT Position Faculty (Total) Tenured/Tenured-­‐Track Non-­‐Tenured/Tenured Track (adjuncts, lecturers, etc)
Staff (Total) Exempt/Salaried Non-­‐Exempt/Hourly Not Answered/Missing 30 10 784 3.6 1.2 94 -­‐ -­‐ -­‐ 54 6.5 -­‐ 248 187 61 29.7 32.2 572 358 214 14 68.5 1.6 67.4 -­‐